Pizza chain consults with bakers on marijuana-infused sauce

The president and CEO of a Pittsburgh-based pizza chain has an idea for a cannabis-infused sauce, but he's not sure the product will fit his family-oriented business model.

Unique Pizza and Subs Corp.'s Jim Vowler said interest in weed-laced pizza and pizza sauce infused with marijuana extract is especially high in Canada, where courts on Thursday ruled unconstitutional a prohibition on the use of pot-infused foods, salves, oils and creams for medical purposes.

The company's largest shareholder -- who lives in Canada -- is interested in buying the rights to a pot-infused frozen pizza, Vowler said.

This week, the company said it was working with Colorado marijuana-infusion chefs to develop a line of cannabis sauces based on Unique Pizza's recipes.

"It started off as an idea," Vowler said. "Would we entertain the idea of doing it? Sure, let's look into it. You'd have to can the sauce. And so the idea was we'd take our sauce and we add the liquid marijuana into it. It would have to be canned within the states where it is legal."

Medical marijuana is legal in Canada and 23 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia, while recreational pot is legal in Colorado and Washington state.